Free Online Stock Trades with Bank of America on the Way
On Wednesday, October 11 Bank of America Corp. announced its plans to offer stock trades online to individual investors at no charge. Customers who deposit $25,000 or more in the bank will be eligible to participate. The plan will take effect immediately in the northeastern region of the United States and will be available nationwide by spring 2007.

With competition fierce among online brokers like Charles Schwab, E*Trade Financial, and TD Ameritrade, steep price cuts for online basic stock trades have been the order of the day for the last year. With the sale value of trades evaporating, most companies have enhanced their research and financial planning fee-based services to attract new customers and to maintain exiting accounts.

The Bank of America announcement is not the first time that financial companies have sought to use free trades to displace the traditional Wall Street companies. In 1999 American Express Co. promoted a no-commission for trades brokerage account but discontinued the program due to lack of demand.

Bank of America, however, is betting that people will want to do their own investing through a bank that has an impressive 5,700 branch locations across the United States.

BofA's president of global consumer and small business banking, Liam McGee said, "Customers appreciate the simplicity and convenience of using a single trusted financial institution for all their banking and investment needs.

Bank of America reports its online banking customers number 20 million with some 1.6 million brokerage accounts. Its new stock trading offering will not apply to option trades, stock registration, account transfers, or margin transactions.